So That All Might Believe

READ John 1:1-18

I used to be an engineer. I deal with numbers and facts and physical realities. So, when I read some poetry, I have absolutely no idea what it is talking about. And when I listen to some deep philosophical ideas, they go right over my head. When I was training for ministry, some of the textbooks were pretty abstruse and I concluded that if the author could not be bothered writing in a way that I could understand, then I could not be bothered reading it. Things have to be pretty simple for me to understand them.

Matthew and Luke tell the Christmas story. I can understand stories (sometimes). John doesn’t tell a story; he has these more philosophical thoughts. Matthew and Luke tell us what happened; John tells us why it happened, and it is a little harder to understand.

Despite being an engineer (and therefore a cultural Philistine) I have discovered that sometimes a little digging produces some amazing treasure, and that is the case here. John tells us some wonderfully encouraging, and profoundly important, things.

In the beginning was the word. Hmmm. We could look at that, and it is quite profound, but let’s not! We know John was referring to Jesus, so let’s just say, “In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.”

Jesus existed from even before creation and Jesus was God! That baby in the manger had already existed for an eternity, and he wasn’t just a baby; He was God! Something quite incredible is happening here. That baby grew up. That man who healed the sick, cast out demons and told amazing stories, was God – God who had existed from the beginning. That man, whom John will later tell us died on a cross, that was God dying on a Cross!

Even the phrase “in the beginning” rings bells. Genesis starts like that: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John is telling us that when God created the world, Jesus was there. In fact, God created through Jesus. Everything was made through Jesus. Not a single thing was made without Jesus doing it. In the beginning, Jesus was God’s creation agent.

In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. This is the sort of thing that makes my brain hurt. What does it mean to say that life is light. Here’s what I think: In Him was life. Jesus is the source of all life. Jesus is the source of our physical life. We live and breathe simply because of God. Life comes from God, from Jesus. But there is also spiritual life, and that also comes from Jesus. Physical life and spiritual life are two different things. People can be physically alive but spiritually dead. John consistently makes a distinction between physical life and spiritual, or eternal, life.

For example, after Lazarus had died, Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister, Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though he/she dies.” According to Jesus, you can die but still live. You can die physically but still live spiritually. Christians do die… physically. Jesus said that and experience confirms it. Christians do die physically, but Christians will also live. We have an ongoing eternal, spiritual life. There is life after death.

So, to make it really simple, we can be alive but dead, or alive and alive, or dead but alive or, sadly, dead and dead. Physically alive but spiritually dead. Many people all around us are physically alive but spiritually dead. Or we can be physically alive and spiritually alive: those who through faith in Jesus have been born again. Or we can be physically dead but spiritually alive: all those who have died but have eternal life because, to use Jesus’ words, they believed in Him. The really sad possibility is that we can be physically dead and spiritually dead: all those who have died without knowing Jesus.

This life… was the light… of all mankind. What? Life is light. I think that means:

• When we have this new Jesus life, our eyes are opened. We understand things we never understood before. Things make sense. Maybe the Bible makes sense for the first time.

• When we have this new Jesus life, fear and darkness are removed. There is huge peace in knowing that our sins have been forgiven, that we are children of God, that there is eternal life.

• When we have this new Jesus life, God guides us. He provides light for our path.

• It might be too that with this new Jesus life, light is shed on some of our own darkness. There might be awareness of sin, that can then be confessed and forgiven and forgotten.

This new Jesus life brings light in many ways to all mankind. Isn’t that cool? All mankind; nobody is excluded – unless we exclude ourselves, which we will come to in a minute.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. This world is pretty dark and, in many ways, the world wants to eliminate Jesus; the darkness wants to extinguish the light. We do not want Jesus here , thank you. But Jesus’ light still shines, and the darkness will not win.

Then John the Apostle talks about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was not the light, but he was sent by God to point people to the light, to Jesus. Why? So that through him all might believe. (Incidentally, that is also our mission: to witness to the light, so that all might believe.). God’s intention is that people believe and receive eternal life. God has set up a whole history with the desire that people believe in Jesus. The prophets pointing forward to Jesus; John the Baptist pointing to Jesus; the Apostles pointing to Jesus; the church pointing to Jesus so that all might believe. That is the goal.

Do not miss the heart of God in this. God’s desire is that all might believe. Unfortunately, God is not going to get His wish. Despite doing everything He could so that all might believe, God’s desire is going to be frustrated. Even God doesn’t get everything He wants.

Verse 9-13 are very sad, and very wonderful. Verse 9 emphasises that Jesus is the true light. There is no real light outside of Jesus. There are lots of people and ideas claiming to give enlightenment, but Jesus is the true light. V.9 again says that Jesus came for everyone. That is the third time already that this passages has said that Jesus came for everybody. But, although the world is His creation, the world did not recognise its own creator. Jesus was rejected by the world that He had created and given life. The world said no. He came to His own but His own did not receive Him. Maybe that means His own creation, but does it also mean His own people. He came to the Jews, God’s chosen people, who had thousands of years of prophecy, who were waiting for their Messiah, and His own people did not receive Him. Isn’t that terribly sad? Sad for those who turned their backs, and those who still turn their backs, on the life that Jesus offers, but sad too for Jesus. He came in love and was rejected.

On the other hand… This is the fantastic bit. To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Again, John is very clear that it is “all” and that he is not talking about physical life, about becoming children by any sort of natural birth process. We do not become children of God by being born into the right family. It is not that sort of birth. We become children of God by being born of God. This is a spiritual birth; nothing to do with natural birth.

Two chapters later, in John 3, Jesus had a discussion with Nicodemus about this. Jesus said, “You must be born again. Must. There is no other way to see the Kingdom of God.” But Nicodemus just could not grasp this idea of a spiritual birth. He could only think of the impossibility, the silliness, of somehow getting back into his mother’s womb and being born again. Jesus said, “Really? You don’t understand about spiritual things? You are meant to be Israel’s teacher!”

The whole concept of being children of God is pretty mind-blowing. Adopted into God’s family. Being wanted by God and being loved by God. Receiving, as children of the Father, an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade: eternal life.

If you are a Christian and someone asks, “Who are you?”, you can say, “I am a child of God”. They might think that you should be committed to a psychiatric institution, that you have delusions of grandeur, but it is not a delusion of grandeur; it is a fact. Those who receive Jesus, who believe in His name, are given the right to become children of God. This new Jesus life changes everything.

The right to become children of God is given to those who receive Jesus and believe in His name. Receiving and believe. Believing in Jesus sounds like a head thing. I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe Jesus died taking my sins on Himself. I believe He rose again. It is a head thing.

But believing is also a heart thing. Believing means trusting. “I believe in Jesus” means everything I know about Him persuades me that He loves me and wants the best for me and will not let me down, and so I trust Him and give myself to Him.

That is believing; what about receiving Jesus. Receiving Him speaks about welcoming Him into my life; including Him in my life; letting Him be Lord of my life. Receiving Him suggests not just intellectual belief but a relationship – a day-by-day relationship with Jesus.

So, while the bulk of people might reject Jesus, some welcome Him and entrust themselves to Him. Those people become children of God.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This person who was God, who created everything, who is eternal and rules over all creation, became flesh and lived among us. God became a human being. God incarnate; God in the flesh. How do you fit the infinite God into a human body? Why would the infinite God even want to be a human and live in this broken world of suffering and sorrow? For some Greeks of the time this would have been even more shocking than it is for us. They believed that the spiritual was good, but the physical was bad; the physical was to be rejected. Why would God become flesh.

This is extraordinary: that is God in the manger among the animals! God in the flesh. God with us.

We have seen Jesus’ glory. Jesus’ glory is everything that is magnificent about Him. John had seen Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He had seen a radiantly glowing Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah. But He had also seen Jesus on the Cross, broken and bleeding and covered in flies and mocked mercilessly. Strangely, that is also Jesus’ glory, because that also tells us that Jesus is magnificent. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him”. He was talking about the Cross. The Cross was anything but glorious. It was horrific and degrading, but that is the point. Jesus’ glory – Jesus’ magnificence, Jesus’ greatness – is seen in His self-sacrificing love, His servanthood, His humility, His wisdom, His holiness. He was full of grace and truth. Grace is generosity, humility, gentleness, patience. Truth is uncompromising commitment to what is right. In some ways they are opposites. Jesus is both at the same time – gentle and uncompromising. Perfectly merciful and perfectly holy. Saviour and judge. That is His glory. We have seen His magnificence.

John has already said that Jesus gives life and light and the right to become children of God, but v.16, says we have received grace upon grace – wave after wave of God’s generosity. Everyday, we receive grace from God. The law came through Moses. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God but this Jesus, this one and only Son of God, who is at the Father’s side, He has revealed Him. Jesus is God revealed. If you want to know about God, look at Jesus. God’s glory is also in His perfect blending of mercy and justice. God’s glory is also His love, His compassion, His willingness to suffer and to forgive, as well as His truth, His righteousness and His holiness. Being full of grace and truth is what makes God great. Why did Jesus reveal the Father? So that we might know Him.

So, that is John’s Christmas. It is not a Christmas story; it is a Christmas explanation. It is a look behind the scenes at who Jesus is and why He came into our world that first Christmas. When we hear the Christmas story, or see a nativity scene, do we know what is happening? This is God, the eternal, creator God, revealing Himself so that we can see what He is like – so that we can see His humility and gentleness and His hatred of sin. This is the God who wants all, no matter where they are from or what they have done, to believe and therefore to receive life and light. Christmas is God coming to us so that we might become His children and receive eternal life. The manger also represents a choice: will we receive Him and believe in His name? 

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